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Home Learning

At Gallions Mount School we believe that homework, which we refer to as home learning, has an important role to play in promoting and developing a positive attitude towards life long learning. It is part of the home-school partnership which is so vital if our pupils are to make the best possible progress.

The Government has defined home learning as ’any work or activities which pupils are asked to do outside lesson time, either on their own or with parents or carers’ . There is no set amount of homework expected by the Government but guidance for parents and useful websites can be found in their Working Together! pack at www.education.gov.uk.

A large majority of time is expected to be spent reading once a day, with adult support as appropriate. Other work given will include: learning and practising spellings, learning and practising number facts, as well as research projects, reinforce and/or extend work done in class, finding information out about a topic, reading activities such as book reviews etc...

If Home Learning is to be successful it needs to:

Support the learning which is happening in school

Be completed and returned on time

Be varied, not just written assignments

Be valued by parents, teachers and pupils

Be challenging but enjoyable

What We Will Do

Keep you informed about what your child is learning in school via each term’s newsletter and Parents meetings

Give home learning which supports the learning done in school

Give your child feedback on how they are doing. This may take the form of class discussion, sharing good practice with the class, follow up lessons if the home learning demonstrates common difficulties, tests, or individual comments on a child’s work

Give you feedback about your child’s home learning achievements at each Parents’ meeting, or sooner if we have concerns

Regularly test your child on the spellings, tables, etc. they have been asked to learn

Where appropriate, offer simplified or extended tasks to different ability groups

Help your child with any queries they have about a particular home learning task

Run Maths and Literacy events for parents to suggest ways in which you can help at home

Remind pupils of the deadlines for completing and return home learning

Provide extra materials eg paper for a poster if this is difficult for you to provide

What We expect Parents and Carers to Do

We see parental assistance as vital in helping children to gain important skills. We cannot emphasise this too strongly. With this in mind we would hope that parents and carers will:

Read regularly with your child

Encourage older children to read independently daily

Talk to them about the books they are reading, the plot, characters, predicted outcomes etc...

Help your child to learn their weekly spellings by testing them and reminding them to practise using LOOK, SAY, COVER, WRITE, CHECK

Help your child to learn their times tables

Remind them to complete all tasks and return them on time

Provide a suitable place where they can do their work

Support them if they get stuck (but don’t do it all for them!)

Praise and encourage them

Ensure that the work has been completed to the best of your child’s ability

Communicate any concerns you have to us as soon as possible

Encourage your child to come and ask for extra teacher input if neither they nor you fully understand the task

In addition to home learning provided by the school we strongly believe that some of the best learning your child can experience outside school involves time spent with a parent or carer. Children spend approximately ¼ of their time at school and ¾ of their lives at home or elsewhere.

Why not spend time:

Discussing items of interest in the news

Playing board or card games together

Solving puzzles and crosswords

Visiting the local library

Practising looking up words in a dictionary or thesaurus

Practising telling the time and costing the shopping

Looking up locations on a map or in an atlas

Trips to Museums, Galleries, the local park etc.....

Cooking together

Physical activities involving exercise, such as swimming

Talking and finding out about the science of everyday life eg dissolving in cooking, how the sun appears to move across the sky, the life cycle of a butterfly, the Water Cycle ........

Practising practical skills such as cutting and folding paper and weighing and measuring

Painting, drawing or making things

Please be positive — success breeds success
Please remember — children learn more through play, practical activities and discussions with family members than filling in endless worksheets